One of the weirdest turnarounds this decade: avantgarde/jazz maven from NYC named Jim O'Rourke produces...a
70s classic rock record? I don't know what the hell possessed him to do this, but it was certainly a good choice, as this album shows there's still life in the old genre yet. Aside from the bizarre (and fantastic) cover art, O'Rourke is going all the way towards trying to make this feel like a forgotten 70s rock classic: it opens with a catchy guitar riff, there are only 7 songs and the whole thing's over in less than 40 minutes, it's split up fairly equally between sunshiny acoustic pop and big 70s Foghat-esque guitar riffs--often in the same song. The record's main flaw is that it isn't sequenced very well--there's a glut of slow-paced acoustic stuff near the end so the album just kind of peters out after the fantastic "Memory Lane" ends. Aside, of course, from the album's last two minutes--O'Rourke, seemingly apropos of nothing, piles on layers of static and noise that steadily increases in volume until the album just shuts off, leaving you to wonder just what in the hell that all was and affirming his identity as more of a noisemaker than a pop songwriter. Still, this is an excellent try, and certainly one of the more weird and singular records of the decade. A rare example of an artist seemingly stepping completely out of his or her comfort zone and coming up with a success (partially--the last couple of tracks really are pretty boring). Play it for your dad: just sneak it into the CD player between the local radio station playing "Slow Ride" and "Foreplay/Long Time" for the sixtieth time that day, and he'll probably like it. Just don't show him the cover.
Jim O'Rourke - "All Downhill From Here"
MY RATING:
7.8
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